


She Was Like A Sunflower

by Lottery57



Category: Mother 3
Genre: Family Feels, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Memories, Mother-Son Relationship, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:35:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28337808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lottery57/pseuds/Lottery57
Summary: Hinawa was many things. She was strong, wise, bright, colourful, persistent and inspiring.Just like a sunflower.
Kudos: 10





	She Was Like A Sunflower

The village of Tazmily had always been a small one, with an equally small community. Everybody knew everybody, and each person went out of their way to help each other.

It was a village that thrived on community and spirit, a village that thrived on cooperation and mutual benefit, a village that thrived on every person being protected and made safe in their paradise.

That's why it was so destructive to them, when it _wasn't._

When greed and ambition tainted every corner of their town, when discord and neglect showed its marks everywhere, and where death was no longer the end of a well lived life, a fitting ending to the story a person wrote with their blood, but a tragic end, where pages were ripped out, with nothing to fill what was left, except for the wistful thought of what _could_ have been.

How ironic it is, that all of this started with one person, one person thought of so highly in the village, a person whose death practically _defined_ tragedy.

_Hinawa._

Hinawa was... _many_ things. If you asked any person in Tazmily about her, they'd _all_ have something to say.

If you'd asked any person in New Pork City about her, they'd _also_ have something to say.

And both groups would give you a list of her qualities — both good _and_ bad.

But as Lucas stood by her grave, he realised how... how _shallow_ it felt. How _shallow_ it all seemed, to simply call his mother a blank slate for qualities to be placed on, like decorations on a cake.

She was _more_ than that. She was something special, someone who defined purity and goodness itself.

Lucas didn't know how to describe it, and perhaps... perhaps he never _would._

But if you'd have been there on that day, and asked him what was his mother like... he would have turned around, given you a sad smile, and quietly spoken his simple answer.

_"She was like a sunflower."_

She was like a sunflower to everyone she knew. Bright, joyous, and seemingly forever full of life.

She was like a sunflower to everything she touched. Nurturing, gentle and strong.

And most of all, she was like a sunflower to everyone in her family. Something pure, sweet and someone who spread her seeds to help everyone grow.

But as Lucas thought about it, he realised she was something different to each of his family. She was equally important to them all, and yet each would say she was for different reasons. 

She was different for them all, and that... that's what interested Lucas the most. How she meant something different, and yet something equally important for each of them. 

To Flint, she was beautiful and wise, a figure of serene grace, someone much stronger than him.

It was odd in a way — Flint was known as a hero throughout Tazmily, for helping many of them in tough times. He felt it was his unspoken duty... to keep as many people as he could safe. 

Everyone would always sing great praises about strong he was... but despite that, he always knew Hinawa was much stronger.

Because for all that Flint did, there was always one person that Flint had always neglected to keep safe, someone who Hinawa noticed.

Himself.

Flint was... _terrible_ at looking after himself. He'd work himself early and late, and not get much sleep because of it. He’d sometimes forget to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, having to work as hard as he did.

But Hinawa wouldn’t let him. She looked out for him, made sure he didn’t dig himself into a early grave. It was an effort for her, to deal with Flint’s stubbornness, but she was always there to keep an eye out for Flint, when he wouldn’t do that himself.

She was everything Flint wasn't. While Flint was stoic, Hinawa was outgoing. While Flint was mistrustful, Hinawa was accepting. And while Flint was never there for his children, Hinawa always _was._

He'd never forgive himself for that. The neglect he showed Lucas over the past three years, after Claus went missing. 

Sometimes, Flint would come to her grave, and look up at the sky. He wondered what Hinawa must have thought of him... of abandoning his only son, for a desperate hope that Claus was still alive.

The irony, of course, was that he was _right —_ Claus _was_ alive. But, it hardly excused Flint's actions, and the more pessimistic side of Flint was sure that Hinawa was still cursing at him in the heavens for that.

But the more optimistic side of Flint, the side he'd gained from Hinawa, remembered how tolerant she could be, and how forgiving she was, even to those you might not have thought to be deserving of it.

Oh, her death changed him a lot. It broke his heart so much that he couldn't bear the thought of losing someone else in his family — that's why he spent all his time looking for Claus.

Because he couldn't bear the thought of feeling that pain again.

Every night, when Flint climbs into his bed, he'll always look at the other side, the side that's been empty ever since Hinawa died. He's always left that side alone, confining himself to one half. Why? Because it's Hinawa's side.

And when Flint thinks of his wife now, he knows he'll never move on, but... in a way, he doesn't _want_ to. 

The saying may have been 'till death do us part', but even after that, Flint wouldn't let his better half go. He'd keep her memory alive in his mind, and for him... that was good enough.

Still, it took Flint a long time to finally accept that, and not everyone in their family could accept it as easily.

Like Claus.

Of all the family, Claus's relationship with his family was perhaps the most strained. Oh, Claus loved his mother — of that he was certain, and he'd punch anyone who'd try to imply otherwise.

But Claus was definitely closer to his father than his mother — he saw him as an idol, and admired how much of a hero he appeared to be around his town. 

Yet, Claus admired his mother for her strong willed nature. Like a sunflower, she still grew in the harshest conditions, and stayed true to her word. She wouldn't back down, not when someone she cared about was there.

In fact, Claus would say the only person he could never argue against was his mother, much to his dismay when it came to all the small things his mother did, like good night kisses and straightening his hair... all just annoyances to him.

Hinawa wouldn’t budge on those little things in the slightest, no matter how hard Claus wished for it... and now he wished he’d never thought that in the first place.

Because sunflowers were as fragile as they were strong, twisted by the stem and forever broken, something Claus was all too aware of.

You see, while everyone knew about Hinawa’s death, no one really knew _how_ she died.

Except for him.

Claus was the only person that knew exactly how Hinawa had died. He saw it with his own two eyes.

A fang in her heart? That was just a romanticisation... and Claus _hated_ it. He hated, _hated,_ that no one knew how his mother had been torn to shreds by that monster, stomped on while she desperately tried to fight back, before it gave that menacing smile, with all its fangs and her scream pierced through the night sky.

He never realised just _how_ much value she had in his life. It was always like that — you never realise what you have, until it’s gone.

All those things his mother used to do, all those things that were annoyances for him, were now gaping holes in his life.

He wanted _revenge._ Revenge on the monster that did this... perhaps, it was a vain hope that somehow, someday, it might bring his mother back.

Above all else, Claus... Claus just wanted to see her again. So much so, that when he finally got the opportunity to do so... he took it, and was reunited with her.

Claus's sacrifice had always been on Lucas's mind. Of course it would be. He wondered why he did it, and that was the only reason he could think of... to see their mother again.

If it was... he understood that perfectly. After all, he wanted to do the exact same thing as well. From all of it, his mind wandered to thoughts of his mother.

When Lucas thought of his mother, he knew she was like a sunflower... inspiring.

Lucas loved both his parents dearly, of course, but while Claus had been closer to their father, Lucas had always been closer to their mother.

Lucas was gentle hearted and thoughtful — qualities which he was once ashamed of. After all, they weren't _manly_ qualities at all.

But Hinawa saw differently. She saw Lucas's kind heart as a unique gift, one which she nurtured all throughout his life. Some might say that was a bad decision, and that's why Lucas was so coddled. 

Yet she was never one to just follow the common opinion. You could say she was a pioneer, someone always challenging the common opinion.

And that’s what Lucas admired about her most. He knew that if she were alive, when the Pigmasks changed Tazmily, she would have been one of the people who stood up against it, like Wess and Kumatora. 

Lucas couldn’t help but feel that’s why _he_ eventually took that stand — because of his mother. Because he knew _she_ wouldn’t have just sat idly by... so he shouldn’t either.

And in the end, it was that kind heart and that drive which he took, that helped him overcome the Pigmasks, to become stronger, and most of all, that let Lucas find a second family in Kumatora and Duster, who were like an older sister and brother to him now.

She spread the seeds of brightness all around Lucas, and though they took time and effort to grow, Hinawa tended to them all with the love and care they deserved, until they blossomed... just like a sunflower.

Though Hinawa may be dead now, her brightness lives on his heart, the final part of his mother, a brightness he’s determined to spread.

And so, when Lucas places flowers around her grave to spread that brightness, some would ask why they were always the same kind. 

And when they did, he'd turn and give that sad smile of his, before quietly speaking his simple answer.

_"Because she was like a sunflower."_

**Author's Note:**

> Well... my second Mother 3 oneshot about sunflowers. I think I have a thing for them.
> 
> I don't really have much to say — this was just something I came up with over a few days and well... yeah. I dunno, part of me has just always wondered what Hinawa meant to her family and well... this is what I imagine she meant to each of them.
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed this little story of mine.


End file.
